PappaRich, Ultimo

My friends and I got together for a birthday lunch at a vegetarian restaurant… only to discover that they were closed on Sundays! Oops, I’m not sure what happened, but one thing led to another and we found ourselves waiting in line at PappaRich.

There were too many of us to actually sit at the one table (and I don’t think it would have been possible considering how packed the place was), so we were split up between three tables.

I thought about going to each table to document what they ordered, buuuut that seemed a bit impractical, so I stuck to taking photos at our table.

Ordering at PappaRich entails writing the codes for your dishes and drinks on the order form, which I thought was pretty smart: lessens the chance of getting your order wrong, unless you have terrible writing like me (so there was pain staking printing involved rather than my usual spidery scrawl).

Pappa Deep Fried Chicken Skin

Deep fried chicken skin is as awesome you think; it’s exactly like crackling, but chicken! (Though perhaps not as salty, from memory).

Pappa Chicken Rice with Steamed Chicken

This is one of the dishes I grew up eating: boiled chicken, chicken rice, and bean sprouts with a bowl of chicken and Chinese cabbage soup and a chilli, ginger, shallot soya dipping sauce.

Chicken rice is basically rice cooked in the broth the boiled chicken was cooked in instead of water. Best. Rice. Ever. Especially the crusty bits at the bottom of the pot.

None of the chicken rice dishes I’ve had has come close to Dad’s, except for this one. I was floored – the flavours were almost spot on to my dad’s cooking and it brought back some wonderful childhood memories.

Pappa Fried Rice Noodles

The rice noodles were wok-fried with prawns, egg, shredded chicken, and bean sprouts. A pretty decent dish that was seasoned well.

Roti Canai with Curry Chicken

Although the roti was soft, it wasn’t as fluffy as the ones you’d get from Mamak. It still hit the spot with a lovely daal and spicy curry chicken.

Satay Chicken (12 pcs)

The satay chicken skewers were succulent and had the right amount of spice.

Beverages

C had the Pappa Mocha and as much as I love having an ice Teh Tarik, I looked on in envy of M’s Milo Dinosaur – it looked so fantastic.

My friends were insanely hungry and ordered perhaps a wee bit much for three people so we had to take the rest away (F’s face brightened when he saw the leftovers I brought home haha).

The service is efficient and food comes out reasonably quick; with lines out the door, there is a fast turnover and I get the feeling that lingering at the table after you’ve finished your meal isn’t ideal.

PappaRich has three restaurants around Sydney (Chatswood, Broadway, and the recently opened Parramatta) and another one is scheduled to be opened in the Macquarie Centre at North Ryde by the end of the year.